Manchester Royal Exchange plans lavish 50th year

Acting legend Sir Tom Courtenay - whose relationship with Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre Company predates the actual company - will return for the theatre's 50th birthday year.

Courtenay first performed for the 69 Theatre Company in 1969, whose founders went on to form the Royal Exchange in one of the world's most dramatic theatre settings, in 1976. He has appeared at the Exchange 16 times and his 17th will be a filmed section of Farnworth playwright Jim Cartwright's first success, Road, which opens the birthday season next February.

But the season - the first from new artistic director Selina Cartmell - will produce several highlights among its seven works, which include two world premieres, two musicals and three reimagined classics, and will feature not only Sir Tom but also stage and TV star Lesley Joseph - making her Royal Exchange debut; Shobna Gulati, David Threlfall, director Matthew Dunster, Johnny Vegas and comic actress Lucy Beaumont.

Under the title A Homecoming, the new season opens with Road (February 13-March 14, 2026), featuring Lesley Joseph, Johnny Vegas, Lucy Beaumont and Shobna Gulati, plus Sir Tom on film as the character Jerry; Noel Coward's Private Lives (March 27-May 2) directed by Blanche McIntyre – the 14th production of a Coward work by the Exchange company, and world premiere Even These Things (May 15-June 15) - an epic story of Manchester and Ireland by award-winning playwright Rory Mullarkey, directed by James Macdonald in the 30th anniversary year of the IRA bomb that severely damaged the Exchange building.

The season also features the regional premiere of the Tony award-winning musical Fun Home (July 3-August 1), based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel, which has music by Jeanine Tesori and book and Lyrics by Lisa Iron. It will be directed by Sarah Frankcom.

Few classic Exchange seasons over the years have left out Shakespeare, and the 50th will be no exception; Oldham-born director Matthew Dunster will direct another Exchange favourite, David Threlfall, in an emotionally-charged reimagining of King Lear (October 2-November 15).

And the potential sell-outs don't end there: for Christmas 2026 the theatre will present one of Stephen Sondheim's most revered shows, Tony award-winning masterpiece, A Little Night Music (December 5-January 30), directed by Selina Cartmell. The season announcement also revealed that the 2025 Bruntwood writing prize-winner, Shooters by Tolu Okanlawon, will receive its world premiere at the Exchange in 2027 (February 12-March 13).

In a final flourish, Cartmell also announced her intention to reopen the 90-seat Exchange studio, closed since the pandemic.

Cartmell's bold, ambitious 50th anniversary season launches what the theatre is calling its "next chapter", though some will say the "homecoming" of famous acting and writing alumni is more accurately a return to the sort of theatre that once had the Manchester theatre referred to the "National Theatre of the North", with world-class productions of both new and classic plays starring exciting performers.

Selina Cartmell said: “There is no theatre like the Royal Exchange anywhere in the world. Its pioneering architecture and visceral relationship between artist and audience underpins my vision for the future.

"In this anniversary year we renew our commitment to being a world-class theatre and an artistic engine room for talent development in the North. I am excited to commission and create a fiercely distinctive artistic future that is local, national and international in ambition.

"I can't launch this season without acknowledging the incredible vision of our founding artistic directors and the generations of artists who followed. I am excited to lead this pioneering theatre into its next chapter - and I hope A Homecoming is a statement of intent of the adventure ahead.”

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